Zeb M. Wood

The B-Movie Celebration 2011 | Call for Volunteers

2011-08-30T21:29:00.000-07:00

Indiana is a really great place to be.

Every fall for the last 5 years a little known festival to most Hoosiers has been making large ripples in the B-Movie market worldwide. The B-Movie Celebration in Franklin Indiana hosts thousands of fans of the B-movie genre and the producers, directors, writers, actors, blood curdling screaming actresses, visual effects artists, and world renowned sound artists that make them.

Some famous B-Movies are Krull (1983), Killer Clowns from Outer Space (1989), and one of my recent guilty pleasures Sharktopus (2010).

What is a B-Movie?

According to Wiki- "In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature. Although the U.S. production of movies intended as second features largely ceased by the end of the 1950s, the term B movie continued to be used in the broader sense it maintains today. In its post–Golden Age usage, there is ambiguity on both sides of the definition: on the one hand, many B movies display a high degree of craft and aesthetic ingenuity; on the other, the primary interest of many inexpensive exploitation films is prurient. In some cases, both are true."

What is the B-Movie Celebration?

"For the past five years, fans of the often misunderstood genre of B-Movies gather in Franklin, Indiana – not just to watch classic films, but to, as the name implies, celebrate them!

What is the difference?

"Perhaps it is joy of seeing the films on the big screen of a cinema, or perhaps it is the camaraderie of viewing them with other fans. It may also be the rebellious feel of enjoying films that usually come from outside the mainstream Hollywood system. Whatever it is, it is real and the fans who journey through the cornfields of central Indiana to attend the celebration know it."

The B-Movie Celebration takes place for 3 days and 2 nights from Friday, September 23rd through Sunday, September 25th.

Volunteers are needed. You will have the chance to make great VFX contacts, compete in the Zombie Walk Nation, the possibility to drive a B-Movie heavyweights around for a day, and of course, watch B-Movies! Examples of volunteer positions can be found here.

If you are interested in volunteering and are looking for some great opportunities to network with in-state and out-of-state professionals email Founder Bill Dever @ devers03@netzero.net

As a volunteer you will receive:

Free popcorn and soda during your shifts at the B Movie Celebration
Boxed dinner when you work Opening Night (slots available for returning volunteers only)

Volunteering has its benefits — What do you get?

2-4 hours gets you a festival day pass
5-8 hours gets you a festival pass (films only)
9+ hours gets you a full festival pass (films AND parties)

"Friendly, Kind, Hardworking Personalities Required"
Volunteer, represent the state and the excitement for networking and B-Movie awesomeness!

Again, If you are interested in volunteering and are looking for some great opportunities to network with in-state and out-of-state professionals email Founder Bill Dever @ devers03@netzero.net

Siggraph 2011 | Vancouver

2011-08-16T08:11:00.000-07:00

This year's SIGGRAPH had a lot of firsts for a lot of people. It was the first summer that SIGGRAPH was in another country (now we have SIGGRAPH Asia in the Winter[this year [Hong Kong]) Vancouver played host city to a very eager crowd! (Well done Vancouver!!! My first demo was this year. Many of my students had their first trip to another country, their first SIGGRAPH, and most of my students had their first missed flight! My fiance' attended her first SIGGRAPH for 1 day to check out my presentation, it happened to be her first time seeing me speak as well! And as always, I made many new friends and didn't get to see enough of old ones.

I was lucky enough to speak along with about a dozen other individuals throughout the week in the Studio under the 'Digital Artistry Workshops' led by Stephen Burns of Chrome Allusion. My topic was Creating Camera Rigs in Maya. A cheap way to minimize 'roller coaster' rides, and maximize 'Michael Bay' types of camera movements in a 3D program. The techniques are mostly just intimidating for many, but very simple to adopt with a little technical experimentation. It was a great experience, I was nervous for the the first time in a long while and spent much of the first days of conference fretting over small details. When Wednesday came the crowd seemed to like the content well enough. Most rewarding, I had several artists asking me to follow up with them and to stay in touch! I love SIGGRAPH.

Indiana and the Art Institute had a strong showing in the Studio this year. Demian Moon Stevens a friend and acquaintance of Stephen Burns helped get so many of us out there.

The Indiana Line up was often called the Art Institute of Indiana 'Dream Team' because myself and two previous students were presenters.

Brian Phillips of the Basement Motion + Design
Topic - 3D Motion Graphics with Photoshop and After Effects

David Ortel
Topic - Digital Abstract Art w/Real Flow and Maya

Demian Moon Stevens
Topic - Cross-Platform Concept Illustration
Topic - Zbrush Life Sculpting and Portraiture

and myself with Real World Camera Rig Creation in Maya

I plan on posting a detailed write-up for Camera Rigging and the techniques about it all in a few weeks.

The greatest part of the talks was that we had the opportunity to represent Indiana and its growing industry in front of so many people in Vancouver. Brian and I even pitched the 49hour Film Contest as well as IndianaUploaded. Both get huge support, hopefully we inspire other areas to do similar projects!

Great work to all the S.V.'s and Indiana's own Josh Grow and Eddie Pohill for another kick ass Electronic Theatre and Animation Festival!!! I can't wait for next year's SIGGRAPH and what happens in between. Hopefully we all get to see more of past friends and colleagues in L.A.

Stay thirsty my friends.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:Part 2

2011-07-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

I am a fantasy geek. I grew up arguing with my brother about which Star Wars Film to watch before lunch. After lunch we would fight tooth and nail about which to watch next. Nine times out of ten, we watched all three. My mom, to her annoyance I'm sure can quote nearly every line of Return of the Jedi. Thanks mom...

My whole family geek-ed out on Star Trek and every version of the t.v. series for the better part of my pre-college days.

Each Lord of the Rings, Avatar, and Tron Legacy have all been released on or close to my birthday, in which my friends and family have embarked on a theater takeover for the better part of a decade.

I am a fantasy geek.

The Harry Potter series came late to me, the films began to release the year I graduated high school, I was a late follower. I saw the 1st 4 films before I read any of the books. I read all the books with exception to Deathly Hallows instantly after I saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book #4). You could say, "I came late to Harry's party." I didn't grow up with Harry like many of my younger cousins did, but I can relate. I caught the late albeit short bus.

Many friends and colleagues dismiss Harry Potter. I truly feel sorry for their loss of not being a part of J.K. Rowling's world, our experiencing of it, and dare I say it, the sadness that it has come to an end. It feels odd to put myself in the arena, but I would call myself a 'fanboy'. Purely on its film making and entertainment value, the first few movies were far from stimulating. I think it was because many older generations had a hard time relating to the children that drove the story. The acting was bad, the effects lackluster, [Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone released 2001, my high school graduation year)]and most importantly there was little risk for any of the characters early on in the series.

Fast forward through the last 7 years. I became a huge midnight-movie-fan after the release of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004). The effects continued to improve, the kids grew up, and the 'bad guy' began to show himself...

Its sad its all over, its even more sad that some will not be able to experience the final show in the way I know many have this past week. Imagine growing up alongside these characters on and off the screen; experiencing teenage angst, bullying, and first loves along side some of your favorite on screen characters! I didn't get to, I was too old, but I got to watch the movies with an audience who identified their childhood's with this series. I was a part of the unique movie-going experience, the excitement and the defeat, 14 years in the making (the first book was released my 8th grade year, 1997).

I sat in the theater last Thursday night for only 4 hours and finally began to understand it. Many had waited (in theater) 8 hours or more, playing ninja and tag. More touching, I overheard several people, young and old, talking about the first time they cried for a character, or their favorite memory of a moment in the series. This was much more than just a movie for these people. It had become much more than a fantasy film for me.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 pulls no punches, it savored every loss and victory the book did, it allowed the audience to feel each characters' defining moment and many characters' last flickers of life. The storytellers allowed an audience that hated Voldermort for 10 years to finally feel pity for him. I truly felt more and more sorry for the bastard. The movie let people cry...it even gave them time to cry. It let us cheer for unlikely heroes, and emotionally prepare for the final battle during Hogwart's defense. It gave us a moments glance into so many friendships, yet told much more. It says so many things many of us are afraid to say to each other. It is so much more than a movie. It was an experience.

Harry Pottter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 is one hell of a ride. Especially in IMAX 3D. It is one of a few films that is enhanced by the venue. I truly appreciate the filmmakers respect for the readers, the actors performance and dedication to the series, and of course, J.K. Rowling for delivering such a beautiful ending.

If you haven't been on the bandwagon, jump on, watch all of the previous films, read all the books, finish on a high note. It is never too late to start. I can't wait to share this series with my kids (and I don't even have any). Be warned though, I will cast the killing curse at any person that shows one of these films to my kids before I do.

After all, I am a fantasy geek.

The 49Hour Experience

2011-04-18T12:02:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, [still seems like yesterday] I and 4 other team mates

Pat Howk | Instructor and Animation Mentor Alumn
Jason Smith | Owner of Vizdio | Creative Media Designer
Vance Vaden | Contractor
Ryan Wing | Motion Designer

participated in the first ever *49 hour/animation/Indiana only competition sponsored by MG Collective; a group of professionals and students in central Indiana that meet up once a month to share experiences, knowledge, and passions for Motion Graphics and 3D animation.

A total of 5 professional teams, and 21 student teams from Indiana competed. Teams were allowed a maximum of 5 persons, some only had one. The Art Institute of Indianapolis, Ball State, IUPUI, and Huntington college were all represented with student competitors! This event was a great time. Check out the 49Hour facebook Event shenanigans that happened through the event and for some no sleep! It is quite funny!

The videos haven't shown yet, and our group 'The Whambulance' plans on premiering in a few festivals, we had such a great experience! 49 hours is not a lot of time, but we pulled off a very ambitious project that trumped "TheRedKite" that most of us had worked on for nearly 2 and a half years. Its not that TheRedKite wasn't a great experience, we just had a lot to learn.

With a similar team from TheRedKite, a whole lot of energy drinks, cliff bars, as well as some enthusiastic students working on their competition submissions, we succeeded in a story that we are very proud of! Until we reach the movie premiers, check out some of the pictures from the event!

Happy animating!

What Inspires...

2011-02-27T20:10:00.000-08:00

I am pretty damn lucky.

I get to instruct, inspire, and motivate students day to day in a field [animation, storytelling, entertainment] that happens to be one of the most yearned for in the last 95 years and has grown in the most exciting ways in the last 20. Yet it isn't the medium that makes us lucky, it is what drives creatives in general.

Often times I'm confronted by friends and family and asked about "what I've been working on." This question is always bitter-sweet because they ask and because they know some of my 'work' weighs heavy on me always.

I had a conversation with a dear friend tonight about how my work can hardly be called such. Often my biggest struggle with what I do outside my job is that it takes so much of my love, energy, and time away from those whom I love. Worse, I sometimes fear that those I love don't understand that what I spend so much time on is in fact far from work.

Inside the classroom and outside the classroom I get to both create and show how to create things that I hope will change people's lives. That's why I do what I do, and it can hardly be called work.

Back to the point.

I think I'm pretty damn lucky to even get to know what I want to do in my life so early. I aim to infect passion and inspiration in people. All too often both inside the classroom and out, inside industry and outside industry, I see my students, friends, and peers struggle to find their way in life, their passion; to find something that matters.

My message is to just move forward, don't stagnate.

My hopes is that they and you (through your passion) can help others do the same.

I encourage everyone especially my students to use what they are learning to inspire others. Its what I think is the greatest way to use art in any medium. I also believe art is the last great way to inspire change without criticism of agenda.

We have the technology and creativity to inspire what I see as an uninspired generation. To share our passions and inspire thousands with a single click. I see our biggest fight(s) actually being the act of beginning, of ever trying, and the fear of failure. Its so natural, but its important to realize some of the greatest moments in history and art were at moments of great risk. I assure anyone who is afraid; that by starting, that by your attempt and refusal of failure you will only fuel your own fire. With any luck you will also fuel the fire and passions of others to do what they love.

That is my hope. It could make the world and our little slice of it Indiana so much better.

Here are some dear friends, students, and colleagues that I know share some of my viewpoints and that I see using their passions to help others find inspiration. They are leading by example in their own ways, in their own interests, by their own perfect passion. And yes they inspire me, please keep doing what you do guys.

Steven Brown | Current Student\work-o-holic | 1 Awesome Artwork a Day
Atomic Big Wheel | Motion Graphic Artist Infecting Media into Indiana.
Ickydime | Indie game developer | Pushed me far in so short a time.
Joshua Corken | Local Life Lover\Designer that Inspires countless.
MG Collective| Indiana's Hungry Media Artist Professionals and Students
IndianaUploaded | Indiana's Hungry Future Movers & Shakers
John King | Little Round Mirrors | Over 500 DVD's contemplated A-Z.
rickyleepotts.com | Opinionated Realist
Chris Perkins | Guttamind | 2D animator

This is but a short list of people that are doing extraordinary things in the local area and state. If you know of anymore, please message or email me, I'd be happy to do more of these in the future!!!

Keep working hard! In the near future IndianaUploaded and new Short project developments will be my way to keep people motivated!

Return to the ring.

2011-02-18T09:29:00.000-08:00

Hey all,

I've been way out of touch. This post marks a promise of one post per week minimum, soon this blog will be much improved and forwarded to one of the snazzy WordPress Video oozing websites at zebwood.com/ pretty excited for that!

Here I am going to post some past student work over the last quarter! Its important to showcase truly hard work, the work that spent much more time than was required, and for that I am proud and eager to see what each of these students will put out in the future.

Rigging: Our Intermediate 3D Animation course is actually all rigging. We don't use scripts although some add them to the machinery portion of the assignments to get automated rotation and chains. Anyway students are to by quarter's end to have a fully functional Organic [creature/human] and a mechanical rig [robot/weapon/vehicle]. The entire rigging process is covered with exception to Motion Capture data integration. Hopefully we can squeeze that in down the road.

As always here are the best in no particular order:

Character Modeling: This has to be one of the most stressful classes for students to take. They are introduced to character modeling and edge-loop modeling, unwrapping, Zbrush, and normal/displacement mapping in this class and asked to create a fully realistic character that is rig-able as well. Our pipeline is Maya-Zbrush-Maya and we are getting some really great work. I'm taking a traditional sculpture class in hopes to increase my vocabulary and instruction in the ways of Gesture and Proportion. Thanks Jacob Dobson for allowing me to join in the class.

As always here are a few of the best form the class in no particular order:

Finally, I'm proud to show one of our graduates first solo-shorts that in my opinion is the first totally complete capstone. This includes pre-production, production, and post production artwork audio. Brit Baue is now employed full time at Ganett. Congrats Brit.

Britt Baue Capstone:

Best of Spring 2010

2010-07-12T07:59:00.001-07:00

The Spring Semester was my first full time experience at the Art Institute of Indianapolis AND THE STUDENTS WERE GREAT! My Special Topics course MMA 311 turned out some really awesome work, it quickly became one of my favorite courses. We also had a Character Modeling class, a VFX course (particles, cloth, hair, fluids, dynamics), and the the first half of capstone shorts.

Below are some of the best of each class in no particular order! The capstones will be kept quiet until the next quarter. :) Keep up the great work guys!

MMA 306 - Character Modeling

The students were charged with learning Maya's modeling tools towards organic modeling. Their final was to develop a low resolution skin, and then take it into Zbrush 3.5 for high detail sculpting and painting. The output is back in Maya some applied Displacements as well.

MMA 311 - Special Topics

Jason Roll studied in depth Environmental and object Unwrapping and texturing for low polygon environments. He used only Maya's unwrapping tools, something I stray away from in most cases! You can reach Jason @ his website, he does many commissions for Matte and Environment Paintings already.

Christopher Perkins decided to study both Maya and After Effects and how he could integrate 3D and Camera movements into After Effects. Chris is working on many independent projects. Chris is a great 2D animator and has his own 2D animation series currently. Check out his website Guttamind.com

Cuong Tran decided to jump into Maya Cloth and NCloth Dynamics systems for his topic of research. The students were charged to create something both Technically Difficult but Artistically Beautiful. I think Cuong did just that. Check out Cuong's website kiareri.com

Finally, Ian Dillingham decided to research that art of Fur in Maya for his upcoming short. Ian successfully applied Fur onto a Horse model, and will also be adding fur to another model for his short. Ian can be contacted @ ibdillingham@gmail.com

MMA 405 - VFX

Visual Effects class was a interesting experience because we were switching topics every few weeks. (Particles, Fluids, Cloth, Rigid/Soft Dynamics, and Hair) For their Final the students were required to render a short amount of frames revisiting a favorite topic, or to combine several effects for one shot.

It went very well. Stay tuned for a compilation. the videos are so different, I'm trying to figure out the best way to present them.

New School, New Students, New Work!!!

2010-04-07T17:33:00.000-07:00

So for those of you that don't know I have been pulling double duty teaching on two campuses this semester. With this the new responsibility of Teaching at the Art Institute of Indianapolis I have switched over to teaching all Maya courses and while it was a struggle to make the teacher-side switch, I think we all were very successful this winter quarter.

Below are some of the best of(s) from a Camera and Lighting course, a Rigging (advanced animation) course, and a Advanced Lighting and Materials Course.

Camera & Lighting:

Camera and lighting had a very unique final project. They were charged to recreate the both the lighting and the camera movements from their favorite movie. What turned out was pure gold. I saw this assignment as a substantial risk, the students gave very polished work.

Rigging:

Each student had to use a pre-made 3D character model and a non-organic model, one found online or one created on their own. After obtaining their model(s). The students were charged with creating controls that would benefit an animator to make the Characters or robots move, Emote, and in sometimes change color. It was a very difficult class, yet the most rewarding. Funny how that works.

Advanced Lighting and Materials:

Students were charged with lighting and texturing creatures, environments, or objects of their choice building upon the information they had learned in other courses. WE had very good results!

Stay tuned from more from AI as we start another quarter! Best of CGT are coming up in a few weeks!

Best of 2009 Fall Semester

2010-01-23T22:49:00.000-08:00

Continuing my ritual of showing off most of my student's work. Here are the best of my classes from the Fall semester of 2009. This semester was great in all aspects as I taught 4 classes, 2 of which were new to me. I don't know if I'm allowed to show off my Art Institute student's work yet so stay tuned. (I taught Maya and After Effects compositing there)

CGT 221: This class is introduction to Architectural Visualization. Students spend the majority of the semester figuring out the program, modeling, and in the last 3 weeks get to try out lighting with mental ray and using the Arch and Design Materials. Each students contact is here and/or on the work.

Alison Wallace: aliwalla@iupui.edu
Nicole Bradford: bradforn@iupui.edu
Tara Carlile: tcarlile@iupui.edu
Megan Newbury: mnewbury@iupui.edu
Jason Smith: jason@jalanvisuals.com , Jason's Blog

They always turn out great work despite their frustrations. In no particular order:

CGT 241: This class is introduction to 3D Animation. It sounds like an animation class but it is actually an introduction to every part of the production pipeline for a 3D short. Students are charged with writing their own 20 second story, story-boarding, animatic, modeling, texturing, lighting, rigging, animation.... You get the idea. They always seem to pull through and work their hearts out to come up with some truly amazing work for first time 3D artists. In no particular order:

I'd also like to acknowledge my new classes CGT 411 which was a capstone course. 2 of the teams worked on projects I'm personally involved with. Seamless Media created the entire IndianaUploaded brand, splashpage, and soon to be released website check out their work here http://indianauploaded.com/ and stay tuned!

Also, from CGT 411 was the team that did the entire storyboard production, character animation, and Cloth simulations for THE RED KITE a 3D short that will be released in April 2010. Check out what we can show you at http://theredkitemovie.blogspot.com/ I'd like to thank both teams for a wonderful experience, and hope they enjoyed (some are still working) it as much as I did.

Here's to another great semester and stay tuned for the great work coming out of the Art Institute of Indianapolis as well!

Avatar: A hopelessly Inspired Review

2009-12-20T22:42:00.000-08:00

It has been a bit over 48 hours since I have seen a movie that totally renewed my enthusiasm and hope for film making.

I might first mention I am the type of person that will go out on a limb to find inspiration. I manage to find magic in the smallest of things, it is what one must do to stay creative and keep a sense of motivation in the hardest of times. Most films I enjoy, my dearest friends and family do not. Avatar was a welcome exception, the release also happened to be on my birthday of all days, leading me to be able to convince 35 dear friends and family to go see the flick. To my pleasure, not one of them was disappointed, and a few announced it was their favorite movie of all time. I was quick to agree in theater, but things have digested and I have come to decide to put this film in my top 5 all time, and favorite of the year (we have had some good ones in 2009).

Avatar regrettably isn't the most unique flavor, nor has it any sort of depth in character development. Its visual effects and creative vision however allow for a quick buy-in to characters that are close enough to human for an audience to become quickly attached. I have watched every major VFX blockbuster and 3D animated film since the time of Final Fantasy the Spirits within; Avatar ladies and gentlemen was worth the long wait.

There have been more failures in our craft than successes. It is possible to pick apart so much on a big screen when a story requires a near-human actor to both perform believably and to evoke a sense of empathy and relativism in an audience. Avatar manages to make you forget what you are watching is even CG (a most crucial ingredient it seems). There are some major undertones in the film that may get preachy, even pushed upon some, but they are all messages that should be re-visited. Some lessons from the past we may have forgotten, and others that dread upon us now are at the root of the film, yet any type of audience can see the questions and dilemmas this story attempts to address in a new yet flashy way.

Outside the story and the character development flaws comes the experience of watching Avatar. Even with the highest of expectations going into the film, a critical eye, and past let-downs fresh in my mind, I forgot the 'critic' within almost instantly and remembered how it felt and what is was like to watch something as a child again. The magic of watching someone run for the first time that can't walk, or master a beast and fly around a world so distant from our own left me in such wonderment and awe. This was an experience I can relate to only a few times in my life, and I get goose bumps even now while recalling this experience; something I will treasure for some time to come.

Even now the film seems like a dream. It sounds funny to put something up so high on a pedestal, but even outside of the production, storyline, characters, and visual effects this film, a huge undertaking of technology, passion, and creativity is a simple promise to creatives like myself that the magic is back. It may have never left, and for me that is way more than enough to keep me looking for and creating the next best story wherever it can be found.

I wholeheartedly recommend you go see Avatar in IMAX 3D, you are in for one hell of a ride. You know I will.

Indiana Uploaded is Coming!!!

2009-11-22T21:25:00.000-08:00

Imagine an online ART community that supports, encourages, and inspires future Indiana artists through scholarship opportunities, criticism from professionals, and collaboration with other Indiana artists.

This community could encourage the next generation of Indiana's Traditional and Digital Artists to grow both inside and outside of the classroom, and at the same time, encourage them to stay in Indiana to study the ARTS.

Well, that community is HERE! Enter IndianaUploaded !!!!

IndianaUploaded.com is an online community centered around design competitions that high school and college design students can embrace and grow with as they hone their design skills and learn the value of collaboration and criticism.

Sign up today, keep up to date information about Rules, Registering, and PRIZES!!! Prizes will range from college scholarships, software, hardware, internships, contract work, and notoriety!

IndianaUploaded will go Live in late December with the first competition following shortly after! Your support by signing up now can help Indiana Uploaded secure scholarships and prizes! http://www.indianauploaded.com

For more info email: info@indianuploaded.com

Red Kite Characters Update

2009-11-02T21:44:00.000-08:00

All, its been way too long! I missed you for the past few months while our Red Kite Group has been tearing it up! Where have you been? What have you been doing?

Me you ask?

Well, I'm Going a little crazy-outta-my-mind texturing the main characters, rigging, tweaking, rigging, tweaking, for our animators whom always find something wrong with my rigs... But working none the less. Just kidding animators, you are doing great!

Update:

- We have completed our animatic and are on our way to character animation as I finish off facial blend expressions for the main characters!

- Texturing and Rigging is nearly complete on all characters!

- We keep finding more assets that need modeling

- We just received great reviews for our animatic when we presented to our Score and Foley sound artists!!!!

- Vue (vegetation creation software) is giving us rendering woes, Ryan is tackling that issue as well as lighting!

- Texturing for Interior and Exterior environments is going well, as you can see in last week's post

Stereo is a big question mark, but we got our man Huckaba on it!

Here are some current screen shots of our main characters in ZBrush 3.0. Next week we will try to have a few shots of the animatic that we will show through progression. (can't let too much of the story out)

Enjoy!

Stay tuned for more updates! I'll try to post other happenings more often as well! Want to show off the rigs, but can't decide on a way to show them off as of yet...

SIGGRAPH 2009 New Orleans

2009-08-12T22:01:00.001-07:00

Many times I have been asked what is SIGGRAPH? Why do you go every year? Well, as many of you are creatives, and many of you are NERDS like myself, this is the Mecca and merging of 1 whole year of new 3D technologies, artwork, animations, research, and camaraderie packed into one memorable week!

This year SIGGRAPH was hosted by New Orleans. A city that is far more welcoming than most of the cities that I have been to (especially Los Angeles). New Orleans offers a perfect evening backdrop for those who don't get out much, to let loose, and to meet face to face to forge new relationships!

This year I was lucky enough to speak with hundreds of professionals about game design ideas that my brother and I cook up (thanks Will Wright), preview new softwares, meet hundreds of new students who are excited about their future, and eat oysters with good friends and well known CGsociety bigs (owners and editors)! Not to mention I received feedback and research on about every part of The Red Kite's production pipeline from several professionals within Pixar, Digital Domain, ILM, and Sony ImageWorks to name a few!

So Why SIGGRAPH? My answer is why not? Its the only place you can go to find people as passionate as you are about your work! And its the one place a lot of you weirdos could fit in! Next Year is Los Angeles hosts once again. Counting professionals, students, and IUPUI Alumni we had 32 Indianapolis people that I know of in attendance! Lets beat those numbers in 2010!

My Students Summer 2009

2009-08-11T21:22:00.000-07:00

Once again I am posting the best of my courses for your enjoyment. Once again I am impressed with the results. This Summer brought 2 expedited 6 week courses.

Here are the best of CGT 221 Intro to Architectural Visualization and 3ds Max. Students are required not only to learn the software but to take that knowledge and create a space from a previous project or an image

(In no particular order):

Here are the best of CGT 321 Advanced Lighting and Rendering for Architectural Spaces in 3ds Max. Students are to master both Scanline and Mental Ray lighting and rendering techniques. The final project consists of taking a previous project's lighting and texturing the space as realistically as possible.

(In no particular order):

Red Kite Characters

2009-06-17T19:54:00.000-07:00

Comrades,

Its been quite a long time since I have had a chance to show you what I have been up to. Luckily its been worth the wait. To bring you up to speed, I am working on a short with a couple of my Arc-nemsis' ;) New Media Grad students... just kidding.

Anyway I am working with some of the best artists here at college, and The Red Kite will be a great project come its completion in March 2010.

Current Progress you ask? My responsibilities lye in the realm of Characters: modeling, texturing, rigging, hair and clothing dynamics, animation, and Recruitment. Our Modeling deadline was just recently so I have 5 of the main characters finished (or nearly) to show you tonight.

You can see our progress continually from all members and recruits via our blog and soon to be website http://www.theredkite.com

So, without further ado, and with promise of fully colored and furry characters around mid August. My muscle project progress will be posted within a week or so from today. I will also let you know when my defense is so you can come see it and ask questions if you like.

Characters:

Maxwell Lostrum

Michael James Chapman

Laura Chapman

Thomas Chapman

Nurse Kate

These are the 5 main characters of the short. Max is a bitter old man. Michael is an 11 year old boy who is sick with cancer. Tom and Laura are his parents. Nurse Kate takes care of both Max and Michael. The story will be left a mystery for now...

Thank you for all of your support and frequent request for updates. I average about 6 hours in zbrush per character. A Rough estimate start to finish for all 5 characters would be around 30 hours per character to model bodies, clothes, and accessories, then unwrap everything, then zbrush. So I have spent roughly 150 hours on these guys so far...

My Students 2009

2009-05-19T09:54:00.000-07:00

For those of you that don't know. I have had the privilege to teach a couple of courses for the CGT department during my graduate studies. This has truly been a rewarding experience that has had a lasting impression.

I teach 2 courses. CGT 221 is an Introductory course to 3ds Max and Architectural Visualization. Students in this course are charged to both learn the software and reproduce an interior with acceptable renders at the end of the semester. This semester has by far been the most successful.

I am very proud to present the best of the class (in no particular order):

The other class I teach is Introduction to Animation and 3ds Max. Students are responsible for learning the basics of all pieces of the production pipeline. They are required to storyboard, create an animatic, model, texture, light, rig, animate, render, and use After Effects to compile their work into a narrative storyline. This class is very taxing on all the students, but the work keeps getting better and better. We really emphasized production value this year. I am very proud of these students' work as well.

Here are the top 4 of this semester (in no particular order):

CGT 241 Best of 2009 from Zeb Wood on Vimeo.

If IUPUI were Hogwarts, these '1st years' have just mastered the Petronus Charm. Geek-out.

If you are a past student (not 2009) please feel free to post a link to your video as a comment!

I'm Sold. Autodesk Mudbox 2009.

2009-05-01T05:23:00.000-07:00

One of the latest CG Society Feature Articles went over the newest Mudbox 2009 release. Simply, amazing potential. Bravo to Autodesk for investing in the product and backing its refinement! I never thought I would steer from ZBrush's fluidity. But I think I may veer off course and take the plunge.

For those of you new to 3D, and are asking "What the hell is this ump-teenth Autodesk release you speak of Zeb?!" I answer. ~ The one you have been waiting for kiddies!

I won't go into every little feature, but the 2 features that stood out primarily to me was in the "realtime shadows, reflection mapping, ambient occlusion mapping and depth of field." Mudbox can handle well into the 30 millions of poly's as well! Thats like sculpting with water ladies and gentlemen... I saw this demo live @ SIGGRAPH 2008 in L.A. and I had to pick my tongue off of the floor.

Game changing software capability # 2 for me is the ability to model and paint in different subdivisions on different layers and at the same time be able to control the opacity and multiplier effects of each layer in combination or individually with the ease of painting alpha maps! "WTF?!" you ask... Unlimited control I answer.

I leave you with some goodies~

The famous Mudbox frog

Harsh Borah

Danny Williams

Peter Zoppi

If you want to see the full article check out it out at CG Society.

Looking forward to the summer. Muscle project is almost complete, and I want to make creatures again. Now with Mudbox 2009.

SIGGRAPH IUPUI Student Exhibition Interviews

2009-04-21T14:10:00.000-07:00

For all of those of you that made it out to the exhibition, you know it went amazingly! I am very proud of all our students and how they presented themselves this year and look forward to being apart of this event for years to come!

Here are links to some pictures and audio interviews Truffle Media's John Blue did. John was a premier sponsor for us, and we hope to continue partnering with him in the future!

Pictures from John

Wenie Rahardja
Zach Barner
Toybox Rags to Roger Purdue Team
Steve Lingg
Stephanie Whealy
Steven Peavey
Marina Sichuga
Marcelo Meijome
Joe Lee
Jenny Sampson
Jeff Szorc
Frank Tai
Erika Yasuno
Drew Shelton
Drew Bush
Chris VanNoy March
Brittny Beauchamp
April Silva

Thanks again for everyone that participated in the event and to all the buisnesses that helped SIGGRAPH Succeed leading up to the event!

Don't SIGGRAPH

2009-04-03T07:51:00.000-07:00

SIGGRAPH IUPUI is proud to release its first live action promotional video for the 2009 Student Exhibition: Don't SIGGRAPH! If you haven't heard of the event, it is going to be face changing for IUPUI and central Indiana students.

The video is for advertisement of the event on Friday, April 17th, 2009 from 5pm-10pm at the IUPUI Campus Center room 450. Everyone including business professionals, students, faculty, and friends are invited to check out the amazing work that IUPUI computer graphics students have to offer!

For more information, visit our website at siggraph.iupui.edu. I better see you at the event, or else! Please share this video and information with everyone you know! Send it to your mom even. "Hell, I did!" ~ Josh Corken

Contour test with Organic Models

2009-03-05T14:47:00.000-08:00

I am finished with the low-polygon versions of Maxwell and now the boy Michael James Chapman. In the next few weeks I will be in ZBrush creating Normal and Displacement maps for all of the above as well as some temporary textures to show off our project in April.

The contour shader I used to render the Wheelchair Turntable unfortunately it doesn't work as well for organic models because of the smooth curves. But it was worth trying. Stay posted.

Wheelchair Model

2009-03-02T08:31:00.000-08:00

So one of the main characters in our story is a boy who is sick and confined to a wheelchair. I figured that a wheelchair model would be fairly easy, but took an approach that allowed me to replicate all the details of the fasteners, welding(s), and intricacies that actually make up a wheel chair.

The rendering style is one I have been wanting to experiment with for a while. It is a combo of Mental Ray interior lighting setup, Ambient Occlusion, and a Contour shader to add the Vector Stroke look. Pretty happy with it.

I have no idea what is up with Blogger's compression of video Mine is Quicktime H.264. Will look into it soon.

Skull Completed

2009-02-23T07:25:00.000-08:00

So here is the completed model for my skull I am using for the muscle based rig.

I'm sure you will note that the model is faceted. This is because it looked off being so smooth (skulls are not smooth) I plan on roughing it up and texturing it via Zbrush with some more time. But for now having it faceted keeps it rough enough for me.

On to a bit more research. I have a little problem trying to figure out how I am going to ensure the NURBS based Muscles stay attached to the skull geometry to simulate how muscles are attached and slide over the skulls of real humans.

Wish me luck!

Maxwell Lostrum

2009-02-20T11:38:00.000-08:00

Finally an update right?! Say hello to Maxwell Lostrum. The "Old Man" in the story.

He was very easy to create from my friend Jason Smith's wonderful artwork.

Working Title Capstone: Update

My goal is to have Max Z-brushed by March 5th as well as the main boy character. So a lot to come up with!

Note: That his shovel and Hospital gown are also done. Having a bit of an issue with max cloth to shape the hospital gown better. Will switch to Maya for production anyway...

Muscle Project back in Buisness

2009-02-20T10:57:00.000-08:00

Been taking care of a few other projects lately. (posting soon) But here is the beginning of my Facial Muscle Project (past research) For those of you new here, I am attempting to create a fully functional/ anatomically correct human face. This starts at the skull and then I will attach NURBS objects that will act as muscles and deform the polygonal geometry that slides on top of it (skin)

The idea is to drive most of the motion in the face by these NURBS objects to elicit emotion and reaction to gravity as well.

Here is the top half of the skull. I poly-modeled it in 3 hours last night after our Portfolio Review Event. There will be a high poly version of it out of ZBrush for style purposes but it is close to function for what I need for.

Lower Jaw and teeth will be added in the next few days.

Hope all is well out there in the world!

Valentines Poster: My Flower Girl

2009-02-12T13:38:00.000-08:00

Faves,

Here is the final Valentines Poster I cooked up in many late nights for Leann this semester. (Look closely) for lots of detail...

Note: Tiny Spark-lies are hard to print on full bleed, predominantly black pieces. Should have split the sparkles onto another document had the print company print the sparkles after the rest of the document...

Ahh well. Always next time.

Hope you like.

Low poly models of the Working Title: Capstone Hero characters up very soon!

Yashimo is finished and saying hello to the world!

2009-02-03T09:01:00.000-08:00

Well, since I can't use this video for the official SIGGRAPH IUPUI mascot I am going to post Yashimo's video on all of the Viral websites. Facebook, Youtube, etc. Please share the link with anyone you might find that could benefit from the SIGGRAPH IUPUI Student Exhibition!!!

All the best. On to research...

Working Title Capstone Blog

2009-01-27T15:18:00.000-08:00

Favorites,

It is with great pleasure that I introduce the project blog that will become the bane of my existence. This is a team endeavor for which this 1st semester only houses 4 extremely talented individuals.

We are to accomplish what many find impossible. All pre-production, modeling, and research for the entire project is to be done by April's end.

I myself am responsible for the 2 hero character's of the story.

Stay tuned on the Working Title: Capstone Blog for updates like concept art, model screen grabs and endless complaining about the self punishment we 3D artists put ourselves through in the continual goal of excellence.

Working Title: Capstone

"Project Capstone" Blog is now Running!

2009-01-26T07:46:00.000-08:00

FYI: My newest endeavor into insanity has begun: Working Title: Capstone has began.

This project is a 3 semester long, CG short animation. Yes, there will be stereoscopic, yes there will be HD, yes there will be surround sound, and yes it will be legendary.

In the following weeks we will bring you updates, and welcome feedback from those of you inclined to offer thought outside of the normal rhetoric.

Stay tuned shortly for the story synopsis and Concept art. We will keep this blog primarily for production updates and spare everyone the details of the extensive research we are doing into current CG technologies!

So hold on to your knickers, kick back grab a beer, this is going to be one hell of an experience!

Finished in the Glory of Defeat.

2009-01-22T16:15:00.000-08:00

Well,

The competition for the official SIGGRAPH IUPUI Student Exhibition is over. The final vote me 14, Marcelo Meijome 17 votes.

I hope he posts his animation soon. If not, it will be all over IUPUI in the next week or so. He had a fantastic Flash animation that fits very well with the theme of our event. I think it is much more timely and to the point than my final 40 seconds of animation (which is a bit lengthy.) Our other competitor Justin Hannah had a great 3D turn in also, but I don't have his blog if he has one...

I will try to get my friend Tyler to come up with audio for this because I am just not that great at it and will post the final soon.

Hope you like. Stay tuned for the beginnings of my facial muscle project and short story project!!! On to the next glorious headache as always.

Yashimo Playblast

2009-01-21T08:32:00.000-08:00

So, I have been animating now for 3 days on and off and then completely scrapped the feet and started over yesterday. The feet were just slowing me down, and they really didn't help the mood of the character, or the short at all. So I deleted them. Now Yashimo hovers/ flys. (Much easier) ;)

Below is a playblast of the animation. I am pretty happy with it all things considered and am rendering as we speak. If the sound comes together nicely, I should be successful.

Stay posted for the final render!

Yashimo Update

2009-01-13T08:21:00.000-08:00

So I am nearly ready to animate the story. It shouldn't be a big problem. He will be very lighthearted and comedic throughout the entire Animation.

Here is the basic rig I set up for Yashimo. He has two bones driving his torso, so I can get some subtle animation and center of gravity changes. He has 4 fingers rigged for both hands. The fingers are driven by IK solvers. His antennae are linked to the head bone tip and have Flex modifiers on them so I don't need to animate the subtle antenna wiggles (hopefully) His eyes may be tricky because I have enabled squash and stretch for his torso bones; so when he squashes the eyes don't stay stationary in their location on his head. I did not want them to be affected by the skin, bu may need them to be after some tests....

I am very proud of the easel because it should be a very easy part of the animation. I created a Master control in the mid section of the easel and then a sub control at the top of the Easel that way I can control its center of rotation from the middle (where Yashimo will be holding it) or from the top when I need to make corrections. Each leg of the Easel can rotate independently from the top at any angle, and the lower legs can telescope in and out with only one axis. I have restricted everything in the scale, rotation and translation axis that shouldn't be moved.

I can't wait to knock this one out of the park!

Yashimo Update

2009-01-08T14:44:00.000-08:00

I now have Yashimo modeled and textured. I am still concerned about the eyes and how I can get them to show more movement and animation while keeping it simple. The set is coming together nicely. I have a few more things to model and texture; things like props, papers, laptop, etc.

I hope to have a good dent in the animation over the weekend. He is nearly rigged. I am spending some unanticipated extra time on the flex modifier for his antennas and may add some more geometry for them to see differences in looks. I used a simple lattice modifier on his lower jaw-line with a soft selected group of vertices so the effect would soften during the animation of his facial expressions towards the back of his jaw.

Hope you like!

Panoramic Settings in CS4

2009-01-06T12:55:00.000-08:00

Photoshop versions have long had the ability to make Panoramic photos out of several image layers. It became a REALLY good tool in CS3 but now has Anti-Dithering (the dark rings at the edges and corners of your beautiful photos) and awesome Image Blending capabilities as well.

My first subject: The Great Tetons in Jackson Hole Wyoming! 12 photos all together with a little Sony Snapshot 8megapixel camera. Pretty happy with the results!

Yashimo Set

2008-12-28T12:07:00.000-08:00

Here is the Set environment for the SIGGRAPH Student Exhibition Animation Spot. Basically it is just a single show table with an easel. The easel is rigged to perfectly open and close on specific axis and angles from the top of the object. The Robot character known as Yashimo will be able to set up the easel and put his work or the Events banner onto it in one of the 5 second spots.

Yashimo will be created in the next couple of days and animated once I get back from Wyoming. The snowmobiling trip should be a nice break from the digital realm.

My Flower Girl

2008-12-28T11:05:00.000-08:00

I couldn't sleep last night so I started messing with CS4's new navigation capabilities and Adjustment layers. I have been making Leann a Valentines Poster since we have been together. This is #3 Titled : My Flower Girl

This is a very similar style as my previous V-Day poster I gave her. I still want to incorporate a stem with similar style. I love working in primarily simple compositions with alot of contrast. So far, I have only used one image for this peice.

SIGGRAPH Student Exhibition Animation

2008-12-10T10:34:00.000-08:00

So, if life didn't offer me any other awesome projects to work on I would have been Happy. But of course, I receive yet another opportunity to stress out about. My SIGGRAPH Organization that I advise in threw an Animation Pitch competition last week during our X-Mas party. Several members pitched awesome ideas with concept art, storyboards, and Animatics... I had forgotten the one and only drawing I had for my pitch at home and had all but decided not to even attempt the pitch.

Of course I was pressured by a few of the officers since I had told them about my ideal a day or so before. So I did the pitch in front of all the student members with absolutely no visuals. Maybe I should be in sales or contract marketing because I won one of the three spots to develop the animation. Good news: it should be pretty awesome, Bad News: It has to be completed in 3 weeks.

Way to go Zeb... Ass. How did I manage to do it? Who knows. But I WILL win the competition.

So Below is the main character. The animation is acting as a video that we can play on our website and around campus to get more students and employers in the various industries to attend. It is between 5 and 10 seconds. I proposed to do (3) 3-5 second animations of a small Martian character (because of its simplicity to model and texture and light) getting ready for an interview.

- One scene he will be arranging his materials for the Student Exhibition and then the logo and event information will fly up and hit the camera.

- Another scene he will be practicing giving a handshake by himself and appear nervous and agitated, one of his resumes will fly off the table and slap the camera with the logo and event information.

The last scene he will be waiting patiently next to his portfolios and works and then beckon the viewer to his area to network. With the Exhibition logo and information slapping the screen at the end.

These (3) spots should be relatively simple, the character and his objects are all easy to model, texture, and light. The camera will be static through all of the shots and the environment will be all white.

The animation will take the longest and the use of sound effects should add a lot to the feeling and comedy of the character's situation as he prepares for the event.

Here is the Student Exhibition logo and Event information Developed by Jason Smith a CGT undergrad.

SIGGRAPH Student Exhibition
April 17th, 2009 5:00p.m.-11:00p.m.
IUPUI Campus Center
Indianapolis, Indiana

If you, your business, or any colleagues would like to attend this free event please contact me by email to register. zwood@iupui.edu Students and Industry professionals can register via the website.

http://siggraph.iupui.edu/

The website may be on and off as we complete some updates...

Thanks for reading and check back soon for progresses on all my projects.

Muscle Update

2008-12-06T15:45:00.000-08:00

Below are my paper notes on more Maya Muscle Tools:

There are many Paint Weight Attributes but there are a few main attributes that control overall movement of the skin geometry reaction to muscle and capsule:

Sticky: Amount 0-1 that controls how much each vertex sticks to the corresponding muscle.
Sliding: Amount 0-1 that controls how much each vertex slides to the corresponding muscles and capsules.

Jiggle: Amount 0-1 that controls how geometric skin is affected by gravity and speed of underlying capsules movement. Feedback only achieved after animation of capsules.
Cycle: Amount 0-1 that acts as a multiplier controlling how fast jiggling starts.
Relax: Amount 0-1 that controls how fast jiggling stops.
Wrinkle:Amount 0-1 that can be painted to encourage vertices to come closer together forming wrinkles.
Self Collisions: 0-1 Amount that helps Maya know where to watch out for geometry hitting itself.

Bone Conversion Issues:

Already mentioned, this toolset can use existing bone tools from Maya to convert existing bone objects into Capsules for muscle use. The process then continues regularly to add muscle objects to the newly converted capsule objects.

A downfall though is that pre-existing bone objects must have correct axis-orientation with one another. This is because when one creates bone chains it is possible to rotate a bone object out of alignment with its parent. Bone axis of rotation is independent of World Space axis.

In Maya, all bone axis at default point the X-axis towards the next child in the bone chain. If this isn’t true when bones are converted into capsules, it will cause random capsule creation and irregular results.

Fortunately this is easily remedied for the artist that is trying to convert Maya Bones into Maya Capsules by re-orienting the Maya bones so that they all follow the same axis of rotation before they are converted to Muscles. To do this Use the Re-Orient Tool in Maya’s Animation Tool.

Other tools of convenience are a Mirror Muscle/Capsule/ and Paint weights tool, which comes in handy for creatures and characters that are symmetrical. The artist can complete one side of the character and simply tell the computer the axis of reflection to mirror data over and apply it completely to the characters opposing half. This will speed up time and creation of rigs exponentially and will prove instrumental in future projects.

Another extremely powerful tool is the ability to attach muscles end affectors to other muscle objects. This allows for muscle stacking. Which in the face is crucial because there are layers of muscle that interact with each other between skin and skull.

All of these tools make for a very high set up time, but more importantly a toolset that is versatile enough to create an anatomically correct muscle driven rig for a human face.

Below is a simple arm rig to test some of the principles.

Maya Muscle System Basics

2008-11-23T15:30:00.000-08:00

Maya’s Muscle Solutions are very versatile and are comprised of three main Components (Figure 4). These components are the CAPSULE, Geometry used as Bone, and Muscles (normally NURBS surfaces). Each of these components can be used separately to deform geometry or in combination with one another.

The Capsule is used to incorporate base level bone type of interaction replaces Maya’s default bone systems. Capsules control simple sliding from the capsules shape translated to the skin geometry by sliding only. Conveniently traditional Maya bone rigs can be converted directly into Capsules which carries over traditional IK/ FK functionality for animation. The use of IK relationships can’t be directly incorporated into Capsule without this conversion. A Displacement distance value known as “Fat” can be adjusted to allow for larger sliding changes to be made from the capsules location.

Geometry used as bone can replace the Capsule by using actual geometry to affect the sliding of skin. This will be of extreme value to an anatomically correct facial rig because there are only two actual moving bones in the face; the skull, and the lower jaw bone. By creating geometry that is dimensionally correct to these bones it will be possible to use geometry as the Bone objects instead of Capsules which cannot take the shape of complex geometry.

Finally the Muscle Object in Maya is extremely powerful and versatile tool that can interact with capsule or bone geometry to perform, sliding, sticking, bulging, and reactions to gravity and motion to achieve highly realistic and predictable movements below the skin geometry. The motion and bulging of muscles is determined by constraining locators at each end of the muscle to positions on Capsules or bone geometry and then morphing the muscle shape between different angles of bone movements. To determine how the skin geometry reacts to the muscle specifically, one can paint vertices to respond to the underlying muscle and bone. Attributes that one can paint into each vertex are jiggle, sliding, sticking, among many others (See Figure 5). With these three components in the Muscle Toolset a fully interacting and complex muscle system can be achieved.

Thankfully the toolset allows for “Smart Collisions” both between Muscles and Capsule/Bones, but also with the Skin and the muscles. This huge because the muscles of the face in particular overlap and intersect each other. So if one to were picture the face below the skin, the layers interacting with each other are Skull and Jaw bone, muscles attached both to the bone and to each other, fat incorporated with the bone and muscle for distance displacement between bone and skin, and then the skin polygonal geometry interacting with everything below it. That interaction is decided by the various attributes which are controlled on a 0 to 1 scale by painting the values directly onto the geometry. All of these relationships then react to the movement of the bones driven by the animator and also the gravity in the scene. Additionally, once the animation has become acceptable and the settings for the geometry reactions are satisfactory, one can “Bake” the vertex movements into a separate .txt file to speed up viewport playback and rendering. Baking references external data to speed up calculations at render and during viewport playback because the software no longer needs to recalculate each vertex position by its painted weights, muscle reaction, or bone driven animation.

All of these tools make for a very high set up time, but more importantly a toolset that is versatile enough to create an anatomically correct muscle driven rig.

Muscle Research

2008-11-22T14:31:00.000-08:00

So back at it again... I have been researching Maya and Max's ability to successfully simulate muscle level of detail with animation. Today we discuss Max's tools.

Angle Deformers:

Used to fix problem areas or enhance deformation by morphing when two bones corresponding angle’s change. Apply this deformer within the Skin modifier and you can morph selected vertices with a simple lattice when the corresponding angles of two bones change value (See Fig 1). This is simple solution to give simplistic muscle deformations. But it is very rigid and does not offer jiggle, response to gravity, or reaction from speed changes in joints.

This Method of using bone angles to morph specific vertices could be very advantageous to cartoony and stylistic characters but can’t be relied on to offer simulations involving gravity, and “jiggle.” In humans, muscle and fat play key roles by sliding and bulging beneath the skin. The Joint Angle Deformer does not offer the ability to slide both beneath the skin and on top of bone like human muscle mass does. (Fig. 2)

To achieve an illusion of this “Sliding” the closest technique available in max to simulate mass reacting to gravity would be the FLEX modifier which controls vertex reactions based on gravity and speed of the vertices affected through the main skin’s animation. One could, in theory, apply an Angle deformer and Flex Modifier to specific vertices that were desired to move like muscle and fat, but this would be an illusion as there would be no actual mass that can be edited visually or react with bones beneath the characters geometric skin. Furthermore, the FLEX modifier offers no way of BAKING information into external files to save memory during viewport playback. The Flex Modifier only works with selected vertices and even better when the vertices are soft selected that way the bounces are applied heavier to some vertices and soften out towards the edges of the selection. To do this one needs to ADD a Edit Poly modifier on top of the Skin modifier that way you can select vertices after they are animated with bones.

To achieve accurate and easily editable muscle simulations one needs to be able to manipulate 3 types of objects. (1) Bones for animation and rough vertex control of skin. (2) Muscles in the Form of NURBS based geometry to slide on top of bone objects, react to gravity and movement, and to control skin geometry. (3) Skin geometry to both look like human skin and deform to bone and muscle simulations accurately. As of yet 3ds Max can not accurately simulate the interactions between these 3 types of objects nor do they offer comprehensible tools to do so.

Here are some other awesome links I have found that other people are discussing!

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=304707

I am in contact with this university and they have an awesome face solution based on a huge library of facial animation... But no Muscle implementation....

The Institute of Animation a division of the Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemburg in Germany is currently working on a project deemed “Dynamic Real-Time Animation” (2006-2010). They have developed a toolset that is available to download for Maya called the Facial Animation Toolset 1.2. The team accepts outside college research in the form of collaborative projects. Their input may be of use. Their tool implements the:

“Adaptable Facial Setup which is capable of driving any humanoid geometry, drawing from an extensive, FACS-based library of facial movement components. The process of fitting the head skeleton to the individual geometry is simplified by offering a standard set of skin weights that accommodates the typical deformation regions of the face. Any skin weights may be cloned topology-independent from one head to another utilizing the Geometry Matching Tool. The Corrective Blendshape Manager offers a useful way to add subtle deformations to a skinned mesh. Blendshape targets can be created and edited, and are computed with respect to the bind pose of the skinned mesh.”

The weakness (and strengths) of their toolset is that the motion is derived independently from a Library of Motion Capture files that are stratified and grouped by the F.A.C.S. which was developed in the late seventies by Friedman whom classified the entire movement capability of the face by muscle. Their goal is to use Motion Capture animation to classify movements based on the F.A.C.S. system first and then mix together each F.A.C.S. animation to achieve a believable face. A rather good ideal but it doesn’t use muscle technologies to achieve gravity and inertia simulation during CG character movements.

Therefore it is still crucial to see if a fully anatomically correct muscle rigged system can be implemented and achieved.

Maya will be next, I can already guarantee I will be using their muscle tools based on Mike Comet's work!!!!

http://www.cometdigital.com/

Comings and Goings

2008-11-11T12:57:00.000-08:00

So I am coming up on the end of my Graduate career. Next semester will be a doosy. I am now involved with a team of individuals for a short animation project. I wrote the story and have been named project manager. The project is slated for completion in Spring of 2010 (almost a year after my graduation.)

I will also be designing and completing my Directed project which will be documented in this area as fully as possible. Without getting into to many details I will be creating a anatomically correct human face that (in all hopes) moves correctly as well displaying emotion, phonemes, and will cause reaction from an audience. It will be driven by CG muscles. It will not have any motion capture like many facial movement solutions these days.

I am currently experimenting with toolsets from many softwares but have already started leaning towards Maya 2008 + because of its specified tools. Autodesk Max is my #1 software but I am comfortable elsewhere as well.

I will post some tests with old geometry and simple tests as well very soon.

Until then, get your nose in a book.